Angela, Thor, and Loki in Love and the Hammer - Who Is Worthy?
by walleye
Summary: Sports news is filled with abuse stories. What if they happened in the Marvel universe? What would the reaction be? Would a new type of hero arise? In the Tenth Realm with no honor what type of love would even exist? Also what does the word 'worthy' mean on Thor's hammer? All these will be dealt with here as Mephisto and Old Loki strive to undo our heroes and heroine.
1. What has Gone Before

First, this story is based on things we've all seen and heard in the news lately about the despicable abuse of women and children by sports figures and the responses to it. In this story we answer the question: what if this happened in the Marvel Universe to members of the Avengers and what would the response be there? This is definitely a story for mature readers only.

Second, it's an adult love story but of a very different type of love as it is love based on the tenets of the Angels of Heven, the newly discovered Tenth Realm (_Thor and Loki in the Tenth Realm #1-5)_. Even in this realm where honor is meaningless and alliances change by the minute we find that love still survives, just not as we know it.

Finally, it is a story about the meaning of the word 'worthy'. This word appears on Thor's hammer in the following inscription:

"Who So Ever Holds This Hammer, If He Be Worthy Shall Possess The Power of Thor."

This begs the question as to how such a spell would know even what worthy meant. How would the spell define it? We shall try to answer that question.

Now for the background.

Those of you who've been following the adventures of _Loki Agent of Asgard_ #1-#6 and _Thor and Loki in the Tenth Realm _#1-#5 be aware that this story takes place just after _Thor and Loki in the Tenth Realm_ #5 and before the events in _Thor _#1 (2014). If you are someone who has read these issues in Loki Agent of Asgard and Thor and Loki in the Tenth Realm, then you may jump to the chapter entitled 'The Couch Is Waiting.' But if you haven't, then read on as we'll try to set the stage for you.

A lot has happened to the two brothers Loki and Thor in the last month and it's about to get worse. For those of you who don't know these gods Loki is the Norse god of mischief and is a human-like Frost Giant, an adopted son of Odin, and can be male or female and just loves to use magic to trick and deceive people. Loki is an incredibly lonely god who hides it behind bluster and sarcasm. He knows that he'll never find a love that will last as he always betrays and tricks those who care about him. He's resigned to always being alone and despised by the rest of Asgard.

On the other hand Thor is the Norse god of thunder and is a full-blooded Asgardian who gets his power of flight and control of the storm from his hammer Mjolnir. Without it he's still as strong as the green-skinned Hulk the strongest mortal. He's also incredibly arrogant at times and devoted to serving Odin and Asgard but still cares for his adopted brother and wishes his brother would not trick him all the time but he knows it's never going to happen.

In Thor and Loki's exploration of the newly discovered Tenth Realm called Heven which is filled with beautiful war-like women with wings they met a super-strong red-haired woman without wings who turned out later to be their lost sister Angela who is a full sister to Thor. She was raised by the Angels of Heven whose culture is based on the idea that everything has a price and that honor is a worthless nothing to try to get you to do something for free. Of course they and Asgard which runs on honor and obedience to Odin are mortal enemies.

Angela scorned for her lack of wings found it hard to be accepted in Heven and left for the freedom of the stars to find out who she was. She was taken in by the _Guardians of the Galaxy _issues #5 and #6 with Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man in attendance, but when she hears Asgard in the form of Thor and Loki have invaded the Tenth Realm she leaves the Guardians to defend the Tenth Realm.

She and Thor fight and Angela knocks him unconscious which means she's as at least as strong as he is. Loki being who she is changes sides but not really and leads an Angel fleet to attack Asgard but she knows its defenses will destroy the fleet. She actually goes to bring back Odin to defeat the Tenth Realm. Before the attack Loki offers mockingly to pay anyone who won't kill Asgardian babies to not take place in the attack and an Angel name Buehler hesitates and may have accepted the offer. Buehler will play an important role later as we assume she accepts.

In the meantime Thor regains consciousness and immediately escapes and when he and Angela fight again in one-on-one combat he brings lightning down and stuns her. He then raises his hammer lost in rage, shouting he'll crack her skull while she's helpless before him. He is only stopped in his murderous rage by the arrival of Odin who reveals Angela is their long-lost sister. This causes the Queen of Heven to reject her and then she in turn rejects Asgard for the stars. At the end Loki who understands the struggle she's going through with not being accepted offers Angela a couch to sleep on if she ever needs it during her struggle to be herself.

For Thor the events that happened in Heven when he tried to kill Angela are about to have damning consequences. Also Angela is naïve about what happens on earth (Midgard) and that is going to get her in a lot of trouble.

Tony Stark who is the Avenger Iron Man is a billionaire and a playboy. In the past he has acted a lot like Hugh Hefner and has thrown wild parties and in some issues of Iron Man has woken up with hangovers and no idea whom he slept with. Early on in his career he became addicted and there were several issues devoted to his drying out. This theme of carousing has continued over the years. Tony still parties it up as a playboy (Guardians of the Galaxy #5) and now events from his past that he thought dead and buried are about to come back to bite him.

It should be mentioned that there is a complication in that Old Loki from the future is here in the present trying to bring about his birth from the present Young Loki and become the god of evil and king. He is everything that the present Young Loki does not wish to be: cruel, arrogant, and loves only himself.

Young Loki was birthed from yet another reincarnation of himself who was created after the original Loki died saving Asgard and his own future from the alien Century. This new reincarnation, Kid Loki, manages to change and reject evil. Kid Loki's reward is to have himself overwritten by a copy of his former self left to lie in wait by the original Loki in the crime that will not be forgiven.

However Young Loki finds himself changed by the story in the mind he now occupies and he finds himself no longer desiring to be a god of evil but one trying desperately to change to what Kid Loki was but no one seems to want him to succeed, especially Old Loki who is in love with being the god of evil and wants to change Young Loki into an evil villain so he can be born.

Another complication that should be mentioned is the presence of Mephisto who is a version of Satan taken from Goethe's Faust and he's out to ruin everyone else's lives and get them into his hell. That's all you'll need to know to understand who he is.

Now dear reader, read on as we join Angela at one of Tony's parties.


	2. The Couch Is Waiting

"Here, Mister Stark said for you to drink this as it'll help you to loosen up and enjoy yourself." A pretty, young, silver-haired woman in a black shirt and black pants both with the Stark logo said with a smile as she handed Angela a tall glass with a bubbling drink in it. "He said it'll help to settle your nerves." Around them buzzed the babble of the big party going on at Stark Tower.

"What is it?" Angela asked as she suspiciously sniffed the glass. If anything, living on Heven had taught her caution.

The woman shrugged. "It's just vodka and orange juice to give it flavor. We call it a Screw Driver." Two men standing behind her dressed also in black with the logo SI for Stark International and who looked like they were security guards with their un-necessary sunglasses grinned and nodded.

"Tony said to relax with the drink as he wants you to be comfortable when he talks to you again about what just happened."

Angela guessed that made sense as she and Tony had not parted on the best of terms after he'd put a hand on her leg which she'd removed forcedly enough to cause him to grimace in pain. He probably wanted to apologize. Well, it wouldn't hurt to see what he wanted. It wasn't like she had anywhere she had to be at the moment as the Guardians of the Galaxy were out of the solar system on a mission which she'd turned down so she could attend Tony's party. She now wished she'd gone with them.

She sipped the drink and felt a pleasant, warm feeling going down.

"Go on." The woman encouraged. "It's even better when drunk all at once."

Angela shrugged. Why not? She'd had stranger drinks on several alien worlds. She drained it and abruptly it was like a bomb had gone off in her stomach. She reeled and caught at the window curtain for support. What had been in that drink?

She turned with an angry snarl and something shot out from the woman's hand and a coruscating radiance surrounded her, filling her with the compulsion to tear the clothes off anyone near and make love to them. The convulsions running through her body were so intense that she screamed but she still managed to draw her axe as she started towards her tormentor.

"Hit her with more of the love compulsion spell! She's throwing it off! " One of the guards shouted. The woman hit her again and again with the radiance. She hit her so many times in fact that Angela lost count before she collapsed to the floor gasping for breath.

"Hold her!" The woman commanded as she got a hypodermic needle out of her purse. "This will make her totally receptive."

The two guards grabbed Angela but that was a bad mistake as the feel of hands trying to possess her both made her want them and hate them simultaneously. Not for nothing was she the greatest warrior in Heven and even in her pain and confusion she was still a warrior. She grabbed one by the collar with one hand and threw him across the room, sending party goers scrambling and screaming. The other she sized with her other hand by his shirt front and slammed him into the wall, knocking him unconscious and smashing his sunglasses into fragments. She staggered to her feet and felt her stomach clench in pain. She was reeling and knew if she went down again that she might never get back up.

She grabbed up her axe and swung wildly, clearing a space around herself and then she turned and ran for the window. At least she tried to run; it was more like a drunk's stumbling. She saw the window was solid glass and didn't care as she hurled herself at it, wanting only to escape.

"Stop her!" Screamed the silver-haired woman who was holding the hypodermic needle in her hand. But it was too late as in an explosion of shattered glass Angela was gone, leaving only flapping curtains behind.

The guard who was still conscious reassured the onlookers. "The show's over, folks. Just go back to enjoying Mister Stark's food and drink." The babble of the party resumed as if nothing had just happened. Attendees of Stark's parties had seen a lot worse over the years.

The guard helped his groggy buddy back to his feet and turned to his silver-haired boss. "Damn, Helvitia, she was strong. She almost shook it off. I hope the boss got what he wanted."

She grinned. "Actually he was right over there in the corner watching. He was the one who ordered me to hit her ten times with the love spell. There'll be a bonus for us tonight boys as he got exactly what he wanted." They left laughing together while a figure in the shadows nodded his satisfaction. All was going better than he had planned.

Angela feeling like she could throw up at any moment dropped rapidly through the night air over New York City for several stories. The air rushed coldly by her, rippling her streaming red hair and drying the sweat pouring from her body. Finally she regained enough control to halt her fall. She noted that her body was shivering but knew it was not from the cold since she could fly through the absolute cold of outer space and never notice it.

At the moment her body was in full revolt against the evil cocktail of drugs she'd been fed and the rolling convulsions induced by the love spell. The cold air of November that surrounded her was a lot warmer than her own troubled heart which felt like it was made out of ice. People whom she'd thought were her friends who cared for her had turned out to have their own agendas for her, leaving her desperately in need of help.

She now knew that Tony Stark whom she had thought of as her friend cared only for his own interests which should've come as no surprise to her after all her adventures amongst the stars and growing up in Heven. Everyone had their own thing which mattered more than anything else to them. Tony had two things besides playing the hero Iron Man: he was a big business man and a playboy. Between those interests his heart had little chance and neither had hers.

She shuddered again as agony ripped through her guts and then she bent over as her stomach spewed into the night air. She needed help and she needed it fast and the damn Guardians were all out of the system and she'd be dead before she reached them. Where could she find help?

Then she remember Loki's offer of a couch to sleep on and that he lived here in New York. She wiped her mouth and dug the silver locket out that Loki had palmed her at their last meeting in the Tenth Realm so she could find him and his damned couch. She opened it up and it glowed and off in the distance something else glowed. She looked closer at the far off glow. There. That had to be his building as it was glowing with a green phosphorescence. She was heading there. It was Loki's damned couch or die in some back alley.

She landed with a thump on the roof, causing several nearby dogs to bark and howl. She cursed. "I can fly silently between the death pods of the ever-vigilant Ugar and here I can't be quiet enough to not disturb a pack of damn dogs."

"Which shows you how upset you are, sister dear, as your so very careful approach has every dog for blocks going insane." A familiar feminine voice remarked sarcastically.

Her head snapped up and she saw a familiar black-haired woman of good build dressed in a grey jump suit looking back at her with a slight smile on her face. She knew immediately it was Loki as she had the sword of truth Gramm held across her shoulders and was wearing on her forehead the two gold horns that some called devil horns.

"Hello, sister trickster." She said weakly as she got to her feet, feeling her stomach churning.

"And greetings to you, sister. What brings you to my humble domicile on a night that threatens to be more suited for Thor?" As if on cue lighting crawled across the sky behind her and thunder rolled.

"When last we talked you said you had a couch for me to use. I am badly in need of that couch and your help tonight." She winced as the lightning flashed again. "By Heven, how I detest lightning; it was used by that coward Thor to strike me down when strength of arm would not suffice."

Loki gestured towards the doorway behind her. "The couch is yours just as I said and support also which is what it implied. As for lightning being a coward's weapon?" She grinned. "You'll get little argument from me and a lot from our storm playing brother."

"He's not my damn brother!" She shouted. "I detest all those of Asgardian blood and would not even be here tonight if you were the same blood as that coward." She had to slap a hand to her mouth and turn away to keep from retching in Loki's face.

Loki saw this and frowned as she came forward to look more closely at her. "There is more amiss to you then a need to talk isn't there? I detect a sickness as well as dark magic hanging around you like a demon wanting to gnaw at your very soul."

Angela ground out against the convulsions. "I hope you can help me, Sister Trickster, as I am in dire need of the aid of someone who knows of both magic and the mad chemicals the Midgardians ingest at their cursed gatherings." As she finished she began to shake and Loki started to offer Angela her hand but then stopped realizing Angela would not want to lean on her as she was totally independent and had to be in desperate straits indeed to have even come here.

"I take it that you ingested some of said chemicals." Loki said with a raised eyebrow as she led the way through the doorway.

"Yes. Damn the Midgardians and damn their foul heroes like Stark to whatever place of torment that exists for such beings."

Loki nodded and gestured the lights on to reveal a comfortable living room which was well furnished with a couch by the window. "As you can see for once I did not lie, the couch is there for the taking."

Angela gratefully laid her sword against the wall along with her axe and slumped in the couch whereupon she immediately threw up spewing all over the rug and Loki.

"Sister!" Loki gestured herself and Angela clean and then knelt by Angela's side and offered her a glass of something taken from a table. "Just water." She explained. "I was about to mix a drink for a nightcap." Outside lightning flashed and once again more thunder rolled.

"I couldn't keep it down but a bowl to throw up in would be appreciated." She then proceeded to demonstrate getting more on Loki.

Loki gestured and a bowl magically appeared and caught the remaining spew. "Please. I just had these rugs dry cleaned after a visitation from the All-Mothers who were very messy with their drinks. They managed to spill the whole bowl (_Loki Agent of Asgard _#2)."

She frowned. "Now let's see what drugs you've ingested." She then made another gesture and a magic glow sprang up surrounding Angela.

Loki stared at the glow and then cursed with real anger. "By Hel itself, my magic shows me that you ingested what the Midgardians call a date-rape cocktail. As foul a name as ever coined for something so evil that only Mephisto, the devil himself, could love it. Come to think of it I would swear he gave them the cursed formula to stir up trouble."

"I don't give a damn what they call it. Can you make it be gone?" She turned and barfed again.

Loki nodded, gestured and abruptly Angela heavily barfed and kept barfing for almost two minutes into the bowl.

Finally, she looked up at her weakly with spittle drooling from her chin. "You damn near tore my guts out."

"But removed what I could of the devil's brew inside you. I've done what I can. Fortunately there was quite a bit that I could remove easily by magic. Unfortunately the rest has already bonded with your body chemistry. It would be very dangerous to try and remove it, especially from your brain, without doing permanent damage. I'm afraid you'll just have to let your body break it down. People here call it _coming down._"

Loki offered her a towel which Angela took and cleaned her mouth with before saying. "I'll give them a coming down they'll never forget when I find those dastards."

"Who?" Loki gestured and the bowl was clean and she set it on the coffee table.

"Employees of Tony Stark, the one who invited me to his party at his penthouse atop Stark Tower. I remember two men and a woman and being handed a drink with words to the effect 'that Tony wanted me to loosen up and enjoy myself', and like a fool I took it. I almost passed out and then I was attacked magically. Fortunately I was strong enough still to fight off their unwanted advances, but sadly not strong enough to kill them and so I had to flee from them and their sick attentions."

She cursed. "When I get the chance, I'll loosen all three of them up so much that their souls flee their bodies screaming in agony as I hack them into bloody shreds and then and only then will I enjoy myself."

"A sentiment I appreciate." Loki said with a snarl. "No-one but no-one does this to a sister of mine."

She gave her a weak smile. "Then I invite you to watch as I slice them apart. Retribution where I come from is made more satisfying when it's shared with one's companions as an audience."

"I find I'm liking Heven more every minute we talk." Loki said with a dark smile. She saw Angela shiver again and frowned. "Now I have to see what is with the blackness in your magic aurora."

She gestured and a phosphorescent glow sprang up around Angela. Loki manipulated her investigative spell and frowned. "I think I see who originated this spell which is one of the most complex love spells I've ever seen." Abruptly her eyes widened and she leaped to her feet. "Damn you, Mephisto! This is all your doing. Get your spell's claws out of her now!"

Abruptly the devil Mephisto with his long, reddish hair shaped into a pair of horns and with a swirling red cloak attached to his shoulders appeared floating in the air in all his devil-red glory and sulfur stench. "Who? Me?" He grinned with his eyes glowing like red-hot coals. "Well I do admit to fashioning the spell the same as I did the delightful date-rape drug but the Stark woman who purchased them from me for the usual price was the applier. Take your complaints to her for her poor application of my product."

He smiled maliciously as he looked at red-haired Angela who glared angrily back at him. Obviously he was enjoying himself immensely. "A love compulsion spell and it has been applied ten times more than it should." He shook his head. "I love fools who do not read the written warnings as they keep my hell full."

"Remove it!" Loki demanded.

Mephisto frowned. "You're in no position to command, old friend, and you have nothing I want to bargain for. Like the delightful drink she ingested it'll just have to wear off with time for if you try to tamper with it the consequences will be, shall I say, very bad for her but so very delightful for me."

"Name a price." Loki snapped as behind Mephisto Angela drew her sword and weakly got to her feet.

Mephisto smiled. "A tempting offer which I do appreciate as I am the father of all temptations." But then he sneered. "Unfortunately, as I said you have nothing to bargain with, old friend. At least nothing I want for now. We'll see about later." He turned to Angela. "And you, young lady, never try to sneak up on the Devil as he can see you coming and going without even turning his head." He vanished as with a vicious swing of her sword Angela stumbled through the spot he'd just vacated.

Loki helped her back to the couch and after she saw she was more comfortable she changed back into her male form and he grabbed the sword Gramm up. "Will you be all right for the moment?" At her nod he continued. "I'll be back shortly, sister. I have a little act to perform at Stark's to liven things up. Those three want a party? I'll give them one."

"No!" Angela staggered out of the couch towards him with her hand out. "I claim first blood right. They wronged me and I'll have my personal revenge." She abruptly sat back down on the couch. "As soon as I recover, they're dead."

Loki sighed and laid the sword aside. "You're a bad influence on me, sister. I almost performed a noble act and that's just not me." He turned back into his feminine form. "I can use a little magic to make you more comfortable if you wish."

Angela grimaced. "I'm a warrior of Heven. We ignore pain."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Do you also ignore the healers arts by which you could return to the fray quicker?"

She sighed. "No, damn you. We do not. Use your foul spells."

Loki smiled. "The only time a healing spell is foul is when it fails." Unknown to Angela he was also adding a little spell to help her resist the compulsion spell.

She gestured and Angela seemed to relax. She leaned back in the couch. "You have my thanks."

"Which is appreciated." Loki replied. Then she frowned. "Now why did I say it that way? First, I want to do a compassionate act for my sister and now I thank her without sarcasm. What's wrong with me?"

In his supposedly inescapable prison Old Loki from the future who was striving to bring his own being into existence as the god of evil and the once and future king laughed at the glowing image. "Because you were contaminated by her barf, you fool, and it was contaminated with both the chemicals and that love spell which now affect you too. Now you and Angela will commit an irredeemable act of murderous passion between brother and sister and it will be the beginnings of my birth into glory as all Asgard and Midgard turn on you. Play on, you fool, play on."

He hugged himself. "I just love being evil me."


	3. Acts of Love

Angela awoke in the middle of the night from a restless, dream-haunted sleep on the couch which left her unrested and not only driven by wants and desires but also with other needs which she satisfied by finding the bathroom which she recognized immediately. No matter where beings roamed the stars, bathrooms were the same everywhere.

She wandered down the hallway and into the kitchen where after a little fumbling with the different boxes she found the refrigerator and a cold beer. The top was stuck on the bottle but that didn't deter her as she ripped it off with her teeth, spat it out, and then downed the contents of the bottle in three gulps. She took another bottle out and ripped the top off the same way. She looked at the food and shook her head. If she wanted anything, she wanted a fresh kill and after seeing Mephisto in all his foulness she had no desire for what was labeled on the plastic box as 'deviled eggs'.

She wandered back to the living room and since she wasn't sleepy she used the channel controls that Loki had showed her how to work and tried to entertain herself. That turned out to be a bad mistake as the first thing she ran across that didn't drive her to tears of frustration was the Playboy Channel.

As she watched she smiled. Finally something she could understand or at least she thought she did. After an hour she wasn't sure she did understand why they were doing what they did but she did understand the images and the desires they awoke inside her. The love cocktail and the compulsion spell started to fire on all cylinders and smashed Young Loki's anti-compulsion spell into glowing fragments.

The first that Loki became aware that a problem was developing was being awoken by the sound of her calling at his shut bedroom door. "Sister-Trickster, let me in. I need you."

Loki gestured himself back into his feminine form. "I don't think so." She replied. "I don't think that would be safe for either of us with the mess of spells and chemicals inside you." She frowned as something whispered inside that she should go to her sister and offer comfort. She tried to ignore it but it became stronger, moving towards a compulsion.

"Sister, open this door now!" Angela sounded desperate. The door shook and rattled.

"I'm sorry, sister, but I've put a spell on the door and the walls. It's for both our sakes." There was no sound from Angela. Loki cocked an eyebrow. "Angela?"

Loki was about to cast a spell to see where Angela was when her voice sounded outside the door. "Let me in, dear one, or I'll let myself in."

Loki fought the compulsion to obey and said. "Not going to happen, my beautiful one." She slapped her hand to her mouth. "Why did I just say that?" Then she realized she was under the same compulsion. "Damn you, Mephisto." She could almost hear him laughing down in hell. Thank goodness for her own protection spells and her ability to resist magical compulsions for if she stayed strong then Angela would never get her way.

"Here I come, my sister trickster, my love, ready or not." Angela proclaimed. Loki frowned. Angela had to have it bad.

There was an explosion as the wood of the door exploded inwards but the spell still glowed in the vanished doorway revealing Angela holding her axe. She tossed the axe aside and drew her sword which had Egyptian hieroglyphs running down its silver blade. She held it up. "I obtained the sword Ra during a recent adventure in Egypt where I took it from an ancient tomb of their pharaoh queen. The next time I face the coward who used lightning on me I'm told by Rocket Raccoon that it'll level the field and it should handle any magic I encounter."

She called out strongly. "I call on the powers of the pharaoh queen in my hour of need." The sword flared and red flames with a hiss like a cobra ran up and down the blade causing the hieroglyphs to glow brightly.

"Oh, crap." Loki said as she realized that Angela now had a magic sword just as powerful, if not more powerful than Gramm and of unknown abilities. A quick magical gesture showed her that when the sword Ra met her magic there was going to be a terribly destructive explosion.

Old Loki was almost rolling off his throne in laughter. "This is so good I may do myself serious mischief. Now the real fun begins. Where's my Tivo? I need to record this X-rated production which ends in blood."

Angela swung the sword at the spell like she was chopping off a dragon's head, but it met no resistance and just buried itself in the floor as Loki had removed the protection spell. Angela looked up in puzzlement. "What?"

Loki sighed. "I took away the spell so you wouldn't hurt yourself or me. I didn't want you to experience what happens when you disrupt one magic with another. It could've been very painful for both of us."

She frowned. "Why're you being like this? I was about to destroy your domicile and hurt you in frustration."

"A frustration driven by a compulsion you could not help and did not deserve to be hurt for." She quietly prepared a quick transport spell in case Angela was not deterred. "After all, you are my sister and I wouldn't want to see you hurt." She frowned as she realized that what she just said meant that Mephisto's spell was hard at work on her and like Mephisto had said she could do nothing to stop it without doing serious injury to both of them.

"No! No!" Screamed old Loki. "You're supposed to attack him. That's how it's supposed to happen. Damn you, my progenitor. You're not supposed to care for her."

Angela sheathed the sword and sat down on the bed beside her. "You actually have feelings for me as your sister?"

"Call it a side effect of the drugs and the spell, but you're my sister. So, of course I have feelings for you, but not enough to let you chop me into bloody pieces."

"That's not what you're supposed to say." Old Loki was spitting he was so mad. "Where's the damn script boy when I need him?"

Angela looked down at her hands. "I'm a warrior and I can resist this outside compulsion as it comes from foul drugs and a spell." She stood and started to leave and then she turned back and sat down beside Loki. "What I cannot withstand is the feelings that do not come from drugs or spells." She reached out a hand and stroked female Loki's face. "For the first time another Angel cares for me as a sister."

"I'm no angel." Female Loki protested. "I'm just the god of lies and tricks."

"You are as close as I'll find to another who understands the ethics of Heven as I do and right now I know that it's true you care for me." She leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you too as my sister and maybe a little more." She abruptly grinned. "Maybe a lot more."

Loki started back. "Here now. I kept this female form so we wouldn't have, well, you know what."

Angela smiled and shifted closer. "Who do you think the warriors of Heven had relations with? The ground grubbers? No, we paired off with each other. It's called the sisterhood."

"Oh, boy." Loki said and changed back into a man. "There, will that stop your wave of affection?"

Angela shook her head and put her arms around him. "No, as I was always considered the kinky one." She kissed him on the cheek again. "I also love you as my brother."

With a sigh Loki gave into the inevitable and kissed her back on the cheek as a brother does for a sister he cares for which was quite a change for a god who before the spell had only cared for himself. "And I care for you as my sister."

Angela sighed happily and rested her head on his shoulder.

On seeing this, Old Loki came to his feet with a scream as he felt his future start to change and his throne as the evil king fade into the mists of time. Once again like his interference in the Tenth Realm to try and have his brother kill his sister, here his attempt to have his earlier self kill Angela had backfired and made things worse instead of better. Now his own existence was in peril.

"You know." Young Loki said after they had sat there quietly for a while enjoying the warmth of their friendship. "That nothing else is going to happen tonight as we're still both under the influence and we both need clear heads to decide what's happening. So like the Federation of Star Trek I'm instituting a neutral zone policy. You either sleep on the couch or on the other side of my bed if you prefer with a magical barrier between us. Something like a bed board."

Angela looked puzzled. "What's Star trek and what's a bed board?"

Loki made a wave of dismissal. "Star Trek is an imaginary Guardians of the Galaxy multiplied to fleet scale size. A Bed board is a thing four-hundred years out of date meant to frustrate would-be lovers. Now what's your answer? Do I have your promise to behave?"

Angela smiled and quoted. "No promises asked for and none given for they shall not be kept if one or the other sees an advantage."

"That has the sounds of a proverb to it."

"It is. It's from the First Book of The Angels." She shivered. "My brother, tonight I don't want to be alone and so I choose the other side of the bed." She laid down and was so exhausted that she was asleep almost immediately.

The violent interaction foreseen by Old Loki from his past totally evaporated at that moment as the two had come to care for each other as a brother and sister should.

"Nooooo!" Screamed Old Loki as he partially faded. "You two are undoing my glorious existence. Damn you Mephisto, I can see that I'm going to have to take an active hand here." He frantically began to gather the workings for a transport spell in order to confront the lord of hell himself.

Down in hell one could hear that worthy being laughing as he watched Old Loki scurry desperately about. "Well, my 'old friend', I can see you're frustrated now yourself. Unfortunately for you there is something in your possession that I do covet." And then he went into gales of laughter. It seems the devil has an evil sense of humor.

In the meantime after she was sure Angela was sleeping soundly Young Loki changed into her female form, got to her feet and left the room, gathering up Gramm and her invisibility cloak on the way out. She only stopped to pick up a bundle of sticks of dynamite out of a closet and several blasting caps and then to put on her grip-any-surface boots. She muttered as she left. "I cannot let what was done this night to my dear sister stand without an appropriate response which that fool Stark will understand." She grinned. "I'm not called the god of mischief for nothing and I play a mean game of revenge."

She returned about two hours later and as she slipped back under the covers she smiled to hear the sound of a massive explosion rocking the night. This was soon followed by the wails of the sirens of emergency vehicles. "I believe they're playing my tune. Now dance to it, Stark." She went to sleep with a satisfied smile on her lips.

The next day the Daily Bugle newspaper screamed out headlines on how the top of Stark Tower had exploded but no-one had been killed. A note had been found etched into the ruined walls.

"Violence against women will have no toleration."

"Feminist militants are suspected." The sub-headline in the Bugle read.

Unknown to the Bugle it was not feminists. This would be only the first blow struck in what would turn out to be a long war against Stark and his companies waged by a god who didn't do things for the nothingness of honor but was highly motivated by revenge.


	4. Angela Shops Online

The next morning Loki made sure that her guest knew where everything was and how to use the credit cards if she wanted to order something she saw online. She then had to explain how to use the touch screen on the computer and other things.

"Is there a spending limit?" Angela asked. "There's one on the ship I serve on with the Guardians of the Galaxy."

Loki grinned. "Not with me there isn't. If I fill up a card I just throw it away and get another one. After all as the god of mischief I'm also the patron of thieves as they commit a lot of mischief."

She frowned, taking in Angela's drawn look. "I don't want you to leave the house." She warned. "There's still residues of the drug in you and the spell is only just beginning to finish up. I don't want to have to bail you out of jail or worse find you in a hospital." She didn't tell Angela that the spell was still defying her attempts to unravel it. Curse Mephisto as he'd been right about what would happen to either of them if he just tried to pull it out by its roots.

Angela grimaced. "Yes, mother." She frowned. "What about you? You have the same mixture in you."

Loki smiled at her and resisted the urge to pat her cheek. "It's different for me. I'm the god of mischief. I'm always in trouble."

"Where are you going that's so important?"

Loki looked at her as if considering not telling her and then said. "I have to check on the results of an explosive present I left at Stark Tower last night."

"You didn't preempt my blood right, did you?" She demanded.

"You are still free to wreak havoc on your attackers. The only thing I attacked was real estate and Stark will I'm afraid only pay for it out of his spare change."

"Then you used too small a bomb." She growled. "I would've done enough damage to make him weep."

Loki touched her hand. "Believe me it's only the first payment of many on the installment plan. In the end Stark will know what tears are, for having created and fostered the environment that did you harm."

She left with an airy wave of her hand. "I just want to be sure that Stark got the message. If he amends his ways and starts treating women better I may lower the number of payments but if he doesn't?" She turned and grinned. "Then you can use a city-beater bomb on him from the Guardian's ship."

After Loki had left Angela found the quiet unnerving with all the whispering urges that she was trying to ignore and so she turned to cable TV for her entertainment. She'd be watching a stupid talk show trying to figure out what all the shouting was about, even to her in her ignorance they seemed stupid, and then she'd start fantasizing about a man or woman on there and then they'd do something stupid and turn her off. She switched to the sport channels.

She found football even stranger as they threw it instead of kicking it with their feet. What a stupid name. Why wasn't it call throwball? Then soccer which should've been football implied they punched each other. And then there was hockey where they hocked nothing. She threw up her hands in disgust. Midgardian sports were just stupid.

The one thing that resonated with her was a sports talk show where the talking heads were discussing the different leagues' responses to violence against women by their players. The lengthy list of women and children abused by the players enraged her. Then she listened to the punishments they proposed and found them to not be worthy of the name. Suspensions and fines? And not one cent went to the women and children who had suffered? Those weren't punishments and didn't help the victims at all. It also angered her when she realized there was little or no mechanism in place to protect the women from being abused further.

Angela thought long and hard on this. She sympathized with the victims and after her own abuse she wanted to do more to help. Abruptly she realized that she had found her purpose in existence. She swore she'd spend the rest of her life helping to defend those women who had no one to fight for them.

When she looked back up at the screen the talking heads had moved on. She changed the program when they started spouting statistics of points per game. How boring.

She switched back to what were called the adult channels as she could understand them better. However that didn't help her emotions but that wasn't a problem she thought as she was stronger today. Then she started watching the commercials on those channels.

The toys for adults had her almost rolling on the floor with laughter. What were they? Masochists? Then she saw the lingerie ads and sat up. She didn't realize it but the drug and the spell were still at work here. She wondered how she'd look in them and what the reaction of her sister would be to this? Rocket always claimed that clothes made the raccoon. Wouldn't that be true for a woman too? Under the influence of the spell she decided to order some.

She couldn't even guess at the sizes and so she ordered one of each size that they had and since she wanted them today she clicked on immediate delivery. She had the feeling this bill was going to be huge. Maybe she'd filled two of his cards today? Whatever shopping was, she found she liked it.

She hadn't realized it yet but under the spell she was fitting into a stereotype image of women as a compulsive shopper and conflicting with her own desire to have women treated decently and not as sex objects. That would soon be brought home to her.

She idly flipped through the channels and then found the ones on animals and settled down to learn about earth life. The programs were good and she enjoyed them except for the damn commercials which seemed to have been written by idiots for idiots. The only program that made her laugh was the one on the courtship and mating habits of raccoons. She had a feeling that her buddy Rocket Raccoon would have a screaming fit if he saw it. She grinned and recorded it just for him.

She finally turned off the set and slept for several hours only to be awoken by Brown Delivery which appropriately brought the packages in a brown truck. She took the packages and immediately started exploring what was in them.

She tried on several of the outfits that fit her or at least her impression of what was a good fit. She frowned as she looked at the mirror. The women in the ads had looked marvelous but she just looked silly.

She went to a closet and went through several of her sister's outfits. When she was done she realized that with these outfits very little skin was revealed and they didn't fit like Spandex. She tried on one of the outfits and immediately saw the difference. She looked good but not as a sex object. In Heven they'd called such outfits as her sister's practical and useful, suggesting while not showing. She concluded the sister trickster would not be impressed with the results of her shopping.

She went and got another beer. This time she used the bottle opener as Loki had suggested after watching her rip a bottle cap off with her teeth. If she ever went back to Heven she might introduce bottle openers there. She sat there on the couch idly flipping through channels while she tried to organize her thoughts and fit in her new conclusions.

Then she came on a channel which was showing the results of what looked like a trial. The tall black man in the judicial robes was pointing out to a sparsely dressed black woman that her outfits could indeed cause her trouble as many times that was the way street walkers dressed. Angela wasn't sure what that meant but it didn't sound good.

Then the judge said something that made her sit up and take notice. "Girl, if you dress cheap like a tart and act like one, then that's how everybody will treat you, men and women both." He finished with. "Sister, you dress and act cheap, then everyone will conclude that's exactly what you are. Cheap."

Suddenly everything came together and Angela blushed bright red as she realized what she had been about to do with the lingerie. She got up and paced in a circle. She had a lot to mull over.

Meanwhile Loki was looking over the rubble from the damage she'd caused last night from the street level outside Stark Tower when her brother Thor landed beside her. "Brother." He said as he sheathed his hammer.

Loki smiled. "Gender inappropriate, brother."

Thor grimaced. "I swear I'll never get used to your changes of form. How do you do it?"

"That would be telling." Loki turned to regard the damage. "Have they figured out who did this yet?"

"Nay. The speculation is that some disgruntled female employee of Tony Stark's sought revenge for an imagined slight."

"The slight was not imagined, brother. Someone tried to rape our sister last night and I left the appropriate message to all their kind."

Thor froze and then his face turned red. "They did what?"

"Are you deaf, brother? Friends of Stark, two men and a woman, supposedly at Stark's insistence, fed our sister a date-rape cocktail and then put a love spell on her at ten times normal strength. Luckily she has your constitution and fought off the effects long enough to escape to me for help where she collapsed in my arms."

"Is Angela all right?" Thor was gripping his hammer so hard that the handle groaned.

"It looks like she'll recover but believe me when I say she's mad. When she gets well I think she plans to drop a city-buster bomb on Stark Tower."

"It may not be standing long enough for her to do it for if Tony can't convince me he had nothing to do with this then I will level it myself." Thor snarled.

"I take it you'll confront your friend then?"

"Aye. But I have known him so long and fought so many battles beside him that I cannot believe this originated from him."

"Brother, remember that you're dealing with the man who turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk not caring whom he hurt and then don't forget he cloned you as the mutant monster Ragnarok and used it to kill many other heroes in the hero civil war. Stark is not to be trusted as he dissembles almost as well as I do. His kind only understand and respect one thing, and that is force."

"Which you have little of. So why this?" He gestured at the rubble in the street.

Loki smiled. "It is but the first installment of many until the debt is settled. I plan to make Tony a long-term project. Even if it has to last five hundred years I'll have him jumping at every strange noise."

"I still will not believe this of him who is my friend." He raised an eyebrow. "They tell me no-one was hurt. Was that by intent?"

"Aye, brother, it was. The innocent have no part in this and if Stark's hands are clean then the only thing I'll demand of him is that he cleanup his act. But if he refuses, then he has five-hundred years of worries."

Thor nodded. "A good point. Be assured that I'll get to the bottom of this. Be careful, Loki, as Tony makes a bad enemy." He threw himself into the air with his hammer and left.

"Fare thee well, brother. For Stark's sake I hope you're right about his innocence for if you're not, when Odin the All Father finds out about this then Stark will truly learn what a bad enemy really is. For Odin will turn Stark Industries into a grease spot and send Stark's soul straight to Mephisto's summer place."

She grinned. "As for me I'll keep it quiet from the All Father as I agree with the Chinese and their use of the water-drop torture. It's so much more satisfying."


	5. Truth Or Consequences

Old Loki appeared in Mephisto's hell in a swirl of smoke right in front of the throne. The throne was empty. "Mephisto, where are you? We have things to discuss."

"The Master is out walking the Dogs of War and does not wish to be disturbed." A masculine, naked, grey demon with yellow fangs said from behind him. "He is right now in the Middle East and soon will be in the Ukraine or Iraq or maybe it's Syria, feeding his pets. He asked me to see to your minor complaints."

"And who are you?"

"I? I'm one of the ten major sins. You may call me Murder." He bowed and then straightened. "The Master thought I would be appropriate for what is on your mind."

"Murder, huh? That's precisely what I want to do that lying Master of yours."

The demon grinned. "Maybe False Witness is really the one with whom you wish to speak. But if you desire to murder the Master I'd suggest discretion as no-one has come even close in centuries."

Old Loki snarled savagely. "What I want to know is why the love compulsion spell and the date-rape cocktail didn't work correctly on them. I paid good money in other peoples' souls for it."

"Ah. I can give you an answer to that. You decided to improve on things once again just as you did when you tried to have brother kill sister in the Tenth Realm. Having your minions dectuple the spell changed all the parameters and then it interacted with the drugs in the cocktail and mutated even further. Not a wise choice for one who would be king. But all is not lost. For a fee the Master will tell you what the changes will result in and the new structure of the spell."

"Why pay when I can figure that out myself?"

"You don't have time as the spell is only minutes from completion and then it'll be too late to make any changes."

"And what is the price? The usual?"

The demon grinned. "This time, just for you, two questions answered by you with only the truth."

"And the subjects?"

"One on the past and one on the future. The master wouldn't specify more."

"I mistrust your Master."

The demon shrugged. "Who doesn't? Do we have an agreement?"

"We do if you tell me enough about the spell so that I can decide if it's worth two answers for the new structure."

Murder cocked his head as if listening to someone. He then smiled at Old Loki. "The Master will speak with you now as he wants me to finish walking the dogs. He's in Syria and he wants me to use them to escort a whole group of those Isis fanatics to the reward they've so richly earned here. No virgins for them, unless you consider fire-breathing female demons virgins. Thank you, Master." He smiled as he evaporated.

There was bright flash of light and Mephisto stood there grinning with a crystal ball in his hand. "I have here what you desire and will give it to you after your answers." He held out his other hand. "Do we have a deal, old friend? Shall we drink or shake or both on it?"

Old Loki ignored the offered hand. "We do if your information on the mutated spell is useful."

Mephisto drew back his hand and glared. "Information is always useful, even from me. It's the uses you put it to which determine what use it is to you." He grinned. "I'm completely unaffected by such choices, but I do admit to admiring the ones that bring more souls to me."

"All right. What is this information about the spell, all of the information?"

Mephisto smiled evilly. "I like dealing with you, Old One. Instead of asking specific questions allowing me to leave information unsaid, you ask for it all."

"Praise from you is both unwelcome and meaningless. What is the information?"

Mephisto gestured and a scene of Angela staring at two pairs of lacy panties laid out on the bed appeared before them. She grimaced in disgust. "See how Odin's daughter is ensnared. The spell has just changed from loving everyone to loving only one who is trustworthy and true to her. Thus, she finds the undies disgusting as sex is not what she wants only."

"If she finds one who is trustworthy and true the spell guarantees that one person will be trustworthy and true to her forever if she kisses them. If she does not find such a one in two hours from now then the spell guarantees that she falls stone-cold dead and her soul belongs to me as the creator of the spell and Odin's wrath will fall on Young Loki as the culprit."

In the scene Angela tossed the frilly panties aside with a look of disgust and turned to look at the door by which her sister had left the apartment. "See. The spell already takes ahold in its new form. She no longer desires sex but wants one who is true and trustworthy."

"And why would her soul necessarily belong to you and not the mistress of Hel?" Old Loki asked.

Mephisto smiled. "It's the default clause as she refuses to acknowledge Asgard and so Hela has no claim to her soul." Mephisto chuckled evilly. "She is guaranteed to die as the only one she'll encounter in the hours that she has to live is your progenitor."

Old Loki grinned. "Well the one who is trustworthy and true won't be my worthless progenitor who so foolishly tries to change from what I gloriously love, evil me. Trustworthy and true is definitely not me in any form or at any time in my glorious existence. I'm true only to me and I am completely untrustworthy and could never love anyone but myself. So it seems I need do nothing but reinforce the new spell and let things unfold as I now plan they will. If I have my way my glorious birth will start by tomorrow as I'll make sure all of Asgard blames him for my sister's death." He frowned. "I must say I thought your information would be more complex."

Mephisto laughed. "Complexity is in the eye of the beholder, especially if he be a twister of lies and truths worthy of his name. Are you satisfied? I warn you that attempts to renege on our agreement while understandable will not be tolerated even by you, old friend."

"It seems I may waste two answers but now I at least have certitude and the structure will be mine. We have a deal. Give me your questions and I shall answer to the best of my ability in exchange for the spell structure."

"Good!" Mephisto raised a cup. "First the drink to seal the deal." He took a deep draught and handed the cup to Old Loki. "Your turn."

Old Loki took a sip, and swirled it around inside his mouth, swallowed it and declared with a smile. "The dregs of despair. I call the year as 1492. It was made from the tears of all the Amerindians." He then took a deep drink, wiped his mouth and handed it back with a grin.

Mephisto took back the offered cup and said with a disappointed smile. "I should've known you would be a connoisseur of despair."

"It's been one of my specialties for centuries longer than you've existed, my friend. Now I believe we shake on it."

Mephisto held his hand out. "Agreed, but no joy buzzers this time unlike that present you left me under Jack Skeleton's pumpkin tree last Halloween as Kid Loki. However I did employ it with success on the dream god Nightmare. He was not amused and I was."

They shook and then both stepped back quickly and wiped their hands off on their clothing as if they didn't trust each other or found the touch of the other disgusting which were both completely true.

Mephisto declared. "The first question is from the past and took much research on my part." He grinned evilly. "Who committed the crime that'll not be forgiven?"

Old Loki paled. "I suspect foul manipulations here. No-one knows enough to ask that question."

"There are no secrets after death as the dead speak to either myself or Hela."

He gestured and an image of Kid Loki appeared covered in magpie feathers and blood screaming. "I am the crime that'll never be forgiven."

Mephisto smiled as the scene vanished. "What was overwritten by you in Kid Loki's brain as you assumed control was murdered and thus its soul fragment came to Hel to roost and due to a contract agreement with Hela that information came next to me. So, you did murder yourself. Strange behavior for a god who claims to love only himself."

Old Loki sniffed and waved a hand. "I admit the one who took over Kid Loki was once me when I tried to change but as you can see I never did and so that answer has no value. As for murder? It's no crime to cut malignant cancer cells from your body and that's all that I did as I considered the goodness of Kid Loki a cancer."

Mephisto nodded with a grin. "That's one question answered and now to the future. Who rules Midgard in your perfect times when you're called King Loki?"

"I would've told you that for free. The answer is the one I consider the best ruler who ever existed and that is all I shall say." Mephisto frowned and then nodded, realizing this was the best he'd get from the god of lies.

Old Loki held his hand out. "I'll take the spell structure and then I must go and ensure that such a perfect future does indeed occur." He took the spell ball from Mephisto and vanished.

Mephisto began to laugh hysterically. "It's only by the truth that you Old One who strive to take the throne of evil that I covet will be undone." He smiled nastily. "I'll save this new information you gave me for a rainy day when it'll do me the most good."

He sat down on his throne and gestured a giant flat screen into existence and the interior of Young Loki's apartment appeared. "I can't wait to see how all this plays out." He took the drink and tossed it back. "Despair is always best when drunk by one who savors it. Soon, you Old One, will know its flavors well."

Old Loki when he got back to his so-called prison examined the spell and saw all was as Mephisto claimed which troubled him. The spell workings had been too easily bought. There had to be a trick in it somewhere, but as much as he looked he couldn't see it. He shrugged. If he couldn't see it, then it wasn't there to see.

He put the ball in a holder and adjusted a glow around it. Immediately images sprang up because the spell was also a recorder and it had a perfect image of the brother and sister kissing. He changed the recorded cheek kisses to full lip ones and he also took the image of them lying in bed together and edited out the image of the bed board between them. There. Almost perfect.

He smiled. "When I get the final pictures of the struggle coming up in the future between the two of them and edit them appropriately, Odin's wrath at Angela's death and misbehavior with her brother will know no bounds. My progenitor will be thrown to the Hel wolves starting my glorious birth."

A little chime sounded. "Why I almost missed my favorite program, Thor Confronts Iron Man, with my idiot brother staring as the Idiot of Thunder. Such type casting." He called up his viewer and popped himself a fresh beer. As the scenes unfolded he hugged himself. "It's so much fun being me."

Thor was still steaming about what had happened to his sister when he entered the main offices at Stark International and demanded to see Tony Stark. "Immediately!" He shouted when they tried to stall him as the boss was with a 'client.' Finally one of the secretaries said something into an intercom and a couple of minutes later a young girl emerged from the office, pulling up her skirt and tucking her blouse into it. She was very pretty and very upset as she blushed a deep red.

This began to create a slow burn in Thor. He could remember too many similar scenes like this one when he'd come to Stark International before. When they'd happened before he'd ignored them as what went on between two adults was not his business, but now after what his brother claimed had happened to their sister at Stark Tower he was no longer so sure that it wasn't his business after all. By the All-Father heroes were supposed to protect women and not use them like toys and that's exactly what playboys like Stark did.

"Mister Stark will see you now." A silver-haired woman said and buzzed him in. As soon as he was inside she pushed another spot on the touch screen and said. "Thor is here as the Old One predicted. Be ready." After that she picked up her bag and left quickly.

Tony Stark looked up as Thor came to a stop on his deep-pile rug. "Yes, Thor? Is there an Avengers' emergency or is this a social call?"

"Neither." Thor looked over towards the couch and saw a bra hanging off one of the arms and this made him even angrier. "What the Hel happened to my sister at your party the other night?"

Tony shrugged. "Which party? I attended three with four different young ladies and none of them introduced themselves as your sister." He grinned. "Some have tried that line on me before but they weren't butch enough to bring it off."

To hear his newly discovered sister referred to in this manner further angered Thor. "My sister Angela, you strutting rooster. She was drugged with a date-rape cocktail at your tower and then spell bound to love anyone who came near her. She barely escaped being raped."

Tony got to his feet. "I'm sorry, but this is the first I've heard of this. Is she all right?"

"Aye, but no thanks to anyone there and now she's swearing vengeance on you as the one who ordered her fed that devil's brew." Thor announced. There was a distant rumble of thunder.

"My friend, I'm completely innocent. I have a strict set of rules as to what is done and not done here in my company and such behavior is strictly forbidden."

Thor considered this and then suspicion flared. Thor might be mostly muscle but he did have a brain which made him very dangerous indeed. "I notice you did not mention rules for your parties. Do they have none?"

Tony shrugged. "I attend a lot of parties and if I tried to police them all then no-one would come." He paused and reflected before asking. "Wait. This girl Angela, your sister. Is she the one from the Guardians?"

At Thor's curt nod he continued. "I did indeed personally invite her myself not knowing she was your sister." He sighed. "She was not interesting and after a few minutes we parted company by mutual consent. I did not see her again. If you'd asked me I would've said she was too pretty to be your sister as I would've expected someone built more along your lines."

Thor grabbed him by the collar. "This is my sister we're speaking of. Moderate your tone or face my wrath."

Tony who was wearing his Iron-Man armor plate underneath his shirt fed the servos and ripped himself out of Thor's grasp leaving pieces of his collar in Thor's hands. "I give you one pass on bad behavior, old friend, let there not be another."

"Did you or did you not try to molest Angela last night?" Lightning was crawling over the hammer head.

"I don't need drugs to guarantee willingness as women come to me naturally. So, no I didn't."

They were glaring at each other when a voice came over the speaker. "Mister Stark, it's quitting time. I just wanted to let you know Andrew delivered a new batch of the drug since you used yours all up at Stark Tower last night."

"What?" Tony gasped. "What drug does Andrew claim I need?"

"Why your love potion, Mister Stark. The one that never fails. Well, until now that is as that stacked redhead got away from you last night. I think her name was Angela."

There was a cry of rage from Thor and he hurled his hammer, breaking up the computer and bursting through the side of the building. Tony ducked and gestured his Iron Man outfit to him. As Thor recaptured his hammer, Iron Man protested. "Thor, I'm completely innocent. I've been setup."

"I'll set you up!" Thor shouted. "I'll set you up right in Hel!" And with that the battle began.

Please fill in the appropriate sound effects and destruction that everyone has seen before when Iron Man and Thor fight. Of course the conclusion is already ordained as Thor has a hammer that can slay the Midgard serpent and he can fight the Hulk to a standstill with his bare hands. Iron-Man's foes or equipment are nowhere in that class. Eventually Tony is knocked unconscious and Thor then clears everyone from Stark Tower just before he brings it down with a barrage of lightning bolts. The second battle in the war with Stark International has ended in minutes.

Old Loki is beside himself with glee. "Just as stupid as I remembered. It's another reason to make him king of Asgard as he's so easily led astray and that's why I'll eventually be the king of everything."


	6. What Is Love?

Angela stared at the piles of clothing, clothing that she was now calling clown outfits as all the lingerie did was make her feel and look like one in the mirror. She remembered a line from one of the boring talk shows which now stood out in her mind. "If you dress cheaply, you'll be treated as cheap." Or words to that effect.

In her new state under the mutated spell this enraged her and she threw the boxes against the wall and stomped on their contents. She then sat down on the couch and began to cry in anger and frustration. It was there that Young Loki found her when she returned.

She took in the crying Angela and the lingerie scattered about. "Very unusual choices of apparel, my sister. Were you think of ordering in stag movies too?"

This just made Angela cry even harder. So Loki sat down beside her and offered her a handkerchief. "I take it the shopping did not go as you hoped?"

She took it, wiped her eyes, and then blew her nose on it. Loki chuckled. "I'll have to remember that move next time that I'm on a bad date. If you really want to discourage an unwelcome suitor I suggest you do like I do. Serve him a nice meal, but have the dog lick off the plates before you return them to the cupboard right before his eyes. It works amazingly well."

Angela looked at Loki with red eyes. "I don't want to go out on dates, all I want is someone whom I can talk to but who lets me be me and does not offer advice to change me. I've seen too much of that on TV today." She got to her feet. "Usually, I'm not concerned about such things but right now I feel driven to unburden myself."

Loki sighed. "I'm afraid that's the drug and the spell talking, but listening costs nothing and I did promise you to listen. So go ahead and I'll be your sister and not comment unless you want me to."

Angela looked back at her and then nodded. She looked out the window at the stars that were now coming out before she began. "Until I was twenty Heven was all I knew or wanted to be part of. I had the strength and the courage but lacked the one qualifier, wings. I wept and prayed for my wings to grow in but they never came."

"It was when I was fifteen that I found that my strength and my near invulnerability made me superior to all but the most hardened of warriors and I began my climb up the hierarchy over the bloody bodies of my opponents."

"I learned all the rules of Heven and tried to exceed everyone else at them but even as I climbed I found something lacking in my life which eventually led me to run from Heven." She fell silent and then looked at Loki as if inviting comment.

Loki nodded. "Let me guess. Even though you did better than all of them, since you had no wings, then you were never accepted totally and this drove you to leave. You craved acceptance and never got it from them."

"How would you know?" She whispered.

"It's obvious, sister. You left them. If they'd accepted you and made you welcome in spite of your differences then you would never have left."

She shrugged. "It's a familiar tune because I've experienced the same rejection time and again by my adopted people too. No-one understands the pain of rejection better than someone who's lived it all their life, struggling to prove themselves by using the powers they were born with and being hated because they had such powers and were not true blood."

Angela sighed. "You substitute our names and you'd have the same story of our troubled lives, wanting to belong and always rejected."

Loki smiled. "Be careful. You are sounding more like a Frost Giant like me than an Asgardian."

"I'm no Asgardian and never want to be; what I need is someone to love who will be a companion who's trustworthy and true." She shivered. "Something is driving me to seek that."

Unseen by them Old Loki leaned forward in his throne in the basement in Asgardia as he watched them in the glowing image. "Now it begins. It's a good thing I brought in a keg and lots of chips as I'm going to celebrate this birth of myself and party like there's no tomorrow which will be true for both of them." He raised a stein of beer. "Here's to being me."

Young Loki chuckled. "Well, I'm not that someone because the only thing you can trust is that eventually I'll trick or betray you as my brother has learned to his rage times too numerous to count and thus I'll never be true."

"Don't you see, sister? That's exactly what I mean about trustworthy and true."

Young Loki frowned. "I don't follow you."

Old Loki spat out his beer and dropped his bowl of chips at this unexpected declaration. "What in the Hel is going on here?"

Angela sighed. "To understand what I mean you have to understand the rules of Heven which I grew up with. We expect to always be betrayed and we don't even call it lies. To us it is 'what works.' Honor is such a term of nothingness, something to force you to behave against your own self-interests without repayment. That's why I call Asgardians the nothing people and Odin the All Father of nothing."

"The trust I want is to have the certitude of knowing I'll be used whenever it serves the one I care-for's self-interest. I trust in anyone I love being a person who cares about me but does what works and who remains true to that and themselves no matter what it costs me. That is what I mean by trustworthy and true."

Young Loki smiled. "I notice you leave out murdering you which would cut short the companionship time spent together."

"That would be my own fault and by the precepts of Heven I would deserve it for being stupid enough to think you would not lookout for your own interests and not lookout for my own." She shuddered. "I was told it was different on Midgard and I decided to try it their way and this near rape is what I got. Well, no more. I'm returning to Heven's precepts as they are what works and if I was to ever love someone it'd be someone like you."

She froze and then said slowly like she was tasting the trueness of what she said. "The only one I can love here is you. Only you are trustworthy and true." At this point they both began to feel the power of the spell rising to its climax.

"Damn you, Mephisto!" Old Loki shouted. "You deceiving bag of goat droppings." He hurled the stein so hard it shattered against the stone wall.

As he stood there, trembling in rage and frustration, Mephisto's voice whispered in his ear. "You are the god of lies but I'm the prince of telling them using only the truth. Never forget that, old friend, when dealing with me." His voice ended in hysterical laughter and then he was gone.

"Mephisto!" Old Loki screamed as he realized how badly he'd erred.

Young Loki scrambled to her feet as Angela slowly moved towards her. "Get control, as we are sisters."

"Get away from me!" Screamed Old Loki but he could do nothing but watch in horrified fascination.

Angela smiled. "It doesn't matter as the rules forbidding such are according to Heven as empty as the honor of Asgard as they keep us from being true to ourselves." She stepped even closer. "And even if such did matter we share no common blood between us and haven't you said that rules exist to be broken." She grabbed the stunned god and kissed her this time on the lips, completing the spell.

Old Loki cursed. "How sweet and touching. It's so sweet that I'm about to go into a diabetic coma. Where are my insulin shots?"

He hurriedly began taking multiple pictures of the unfolding scene and grinned as the two sat down holding each other. "At least I'll get what I wanted, Odin's wrath after I edit these and put them on the Stark device that Fandral still has." He considered for a moment and then smiled. "Why just put the pictures on the Stark device when I can use YouTube and Facebook and spread them all over the internet? I may yet save evil me."

Young Loki stared at Angela and felt feelings she'd never experienced before. "What happens now?" She whispered.

Angela stroked Young Loki's raven black hair. "We love one another but that's privately between the two of us. I've heard of this institution of marriage and find it so very strange. In Heven there are no marriages as they are based on honor which is a meaningless nothingness so we just act as two mature beings who care about each other as much as we care about ourselves. It's the ultimate sisterhood."

She kissed her ear. "I saw some interesting things on the adult channels today that I'd like to try."

Young Loki shivered. It was the spell. It had to be the spell. "We'll have to pass on that as we both have things we need to be doing, specifically bad things to Stark."

Angela cuffed her on the shoulder. "Spoilsport. So, how goes our war against Stark?"

Young Loki grinned. "It moves well. I just met with my brother who's taken up the cause. He destroyed Stark Tower for you."

"I hate being beholden to any Asgardian." She said with bitterness.

"He is a man driven to protect your honor."

"What a waste of time. I can take care of myself and consider honor as nothing."

Young Loki smiled. "But he has his uses. Thor has been accused by Iron Man of violating the Avenger's code for destroying Stark Tower and faces a hearing on it today and I've convinced him to plead no contest."

"And what good is that?"

Loki grinned even more nastily. "It allows him to do Stark even greater damage. Watch and see as I've prepared something with my brother's consent." She made a gesture and the scene in the Avenger's hearing room appeared before them.

While they watched Young Loki tried to put a finger on what had just happened to him. For the first time in his existence someone else's existence mattered to him. Someone who would always care for him no matter what he did even to her and he would care for her no matter what she did even to him. She was also not turned off by his different forms and actually liked them.

He sighed. It was the only way he could ever have a relationship with anyone which would last. His trustworthiness to always betray was something she loved and admired and which had prevented him from having any lasting relationships over the long centuries.

He knew this was going to have to remain a secret as none in Asgard would understand what was going on here. He wasn't sure he understood it himself. But Odin would be enraged and if he desired nonexistence all he had to do was tell him. "Father, I'm in love with my sister and she with me." Oh yeah, that would get both of them nonexistence with shouts of "Forbidden! Un-natural! Burn at the stake!"

He suspected the spell that he couldn't unravel was at fault and he'd have to work harder at getting a handle on it. At that moment an image formed in his mind. He started as he recognized Kid Loki whom he'd erased so that he could take over his body and destroy the Fear Crown that Mephisto had been about to claim so that he could rule everything. (_Journey Into Mystery_).

"What are you doing here?" He asked the boyish image of Kid Loki who at times acted as his conscience. "I thought you'd left for good." (_Young Avengers _#1-15).

"That would be telling." His younger self grinned at him. "You'll never know now when I may show up, will you?" He pointed towards Angela and then leaned forward with his hands on his knees and warned. "You really want to change? Well, if you love her you will become exactly what you hoped you could become. So, don't try too hard to change the spell or you'll mess up something good for the both of you. If you leave the spell alone I can almost guarantee you'll never need to see me again." With that he vanished.

Young Loki sighed. Out of the mouth of babes. Maybe with Angela's support he could really change. He looked into Angela's eyes and found her smiling back at him. He hugged her and got one in return and then they turned to watch Thor at the Avengers' hearing.


	7. The Avengers' Hearing

Captain America holding the gavel looked straight at Thor from his seat behind the table as he said. "This meeting of the Avengers has been called to answer charges brought against one of our own by another member." The Black Widow and Hawkeye looked with him from their seats behind the table while off to the side Bruce Banner checked to make sure the recorders were working. Tony Stark in his Iron Man gear stood facing them along with Thor but with ten feet of space between them. The two glared at each other.

"Thor, as the accused, you have the right to counsel of your choice which you have declined." He cleared his throat. "You stand before us accused of wantonly destroying the property of Iron Man, namely Stark Tower, without listening to reason or coming to us with any evidence of wrong doing by your accuser who has now given good evidence that he's innocent. How do you plead?"

Thor said with slowly measured words. "Aye, I destroyed the tower after this iron playboy disrespected my sister."

There was a shocked murmur from the other Avengers. "You have a sister?" The Black Widow asked.

Thor nodded. "I do. Her name is Angela and she is a member of the Guardians and she was invited to one of his parties." He pointed at Iron Man.

The Widow looked at Iron Man and frowned. "A Stark party?" There was coldness in her voice.

"Aye. Do you know of them?"

"Oh, I do indeed. It was early in my career and what went on at his party shocked me so much that I left and never went back. It was the only way I could maintain a working relationship with this, this playboy." She glared at Iron Man.

"I'm not on trial here, Widow." Stark said. "And whatever happens at my playboy parties is between consenting adults."

"Who defines consent?" She snapped back. "You or the woman?"

Hawkeye said. "I don't know what you're getting so excited about, Nat. I've been to several and enjoyed myself."

The Widow sniffed. "You would."

Captain America banged his gavel. "Tony's parties are not on trial. Let's keep to the subject here, people."

"How come I never see you at any of the parties, Cap?" Hawkeye asked. "You need to lighten up more and enjoy yourself."

Captain America looked away. "I'm not comfortable at parties."

"I'll bet it's because you come from a generation that had more respect for women than the current one does just as I did." The Black Widow observed. "And how about the free use of drugs at those parties?"

"People, we're off the subject again." He said as he banged his gavel. There was sweat beading up on his brow. He turned back to Thor who'd been listening to all this with interest.

"Do you have anything else to say, Thor, before we begin this inquiry?" Cap asked.

"Aye. I tell you that my sister was fed a drug to make her have sex and then was spelled to make sure it worked. It happened at his party and was done by his people and so I make a counter complaint that Stark encouraged and fostered an environment that led to the near rape."

Everyone stared at him open mouthed. The Widow was first to speak. "Thor, that, that was very articulate of you. I did not know you had it in you."

Thor shrugged. He owed his brother big time for his suggestions and a small spell which had helped organize his thoughts. It was another step in his brother's plans, one that he whole heartedly agreed with.

Young Loki whispered with glee to Angela. "The trap has been baited."

Thor continued. "I'm not just some brute with muscles answering violence with more violence. I've had a lot of time to think about this and I do agree that the evidence Stark has presented since the incident shows that I was wrong in that he was not the one who gave her the drug or used the spell and so I apologize for my actions and will have Stark Tower rebuilt at my family's expense. But I stand behind my accusation that this, this playboy ensured something like this would happen by his cavalier approach to women at his parties."

Tony shook his head. "Thor, you can't just change people. People want to have parties and to stop them from having fun is just plain wrong."

Thor glared angrily. "I can protect my sister and any other woman from those who would do them harm at such parties in the name of fun just because they're women. We call ourselves the Avengers and that should extend to all women too."

The Black Widow clapped her hands. "Well said, my friend." She looked around at the uncomfortable men. "This has been too long in coming because it's happened before and been suppressed."

Captain America frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It happened here, Captain. If you don't remember, then read you're Avenger's files and they'll tell you about what happened to Carol Danvers the first Miss Marvel who was hit with a love spell and we allowed her to be taken to another dimension thinking she was in love with her abductor and allowed her to be abused for two years and we never checked on her. Finally, she escaped on her own to the X-men. Access the files under Danvers-Rogue and you'll find it."

Bruce Banner looked up from the computer. "I just accessed the files." He read for a minute. "It's as the Widow claims." There was a deadly silence.

Captain America broke it with his gavel. He looked at Iron Man. "I take it Thor's offer of payment and his apology are acceptable?"

"Yes, they are." Tony replied.

"Then I rule this hearing is concluded." He banged the gavel.

"Hold! What about my charges against Iron Man." Thor growled.

Captain America sighed. "Thor, Tony's lifestyle is his own business and is not Avenger's business."

"Since when has abuse of women not been our business?"

"Are you accusing your colleague of that?" At Thor's nod he sighed again. "You may so propose and put to a vote if you want."

"Then I so call." Thor handed him a slip of paper. "You'll find it here." He didn't tell them he'd had his brother write it up for him before he read and approved it.

"Here it comes." Young Loki whispered in Angela's ear.

Captain America read the note, looked up with a frown, and then said. "All those opposed to Thor's proposal that we investigate Tony Stark and the Avengers themselves for fostering an environment harmful to women, resulting in their abuse and sanction Tony Stark if we find he does so and change Avenger rules if we are at fault signify by raising your hands." He looked around. "Two vote nay. Let it be recorded that Iron Man and Hawkeye voted nay. Now, those for signify by raising their hands." He frowned. "That's two for. Thor and the Black Widow vote aye."

He looked over at a silent Banner. "Bruce, you have the tie breaking vote. Do you wish to use it?"

Banner shook his head. "I'm too conflicted to vote. Tony is responsible for my becoming the Hulk against my wishes and indirectly responsible for the death of my beloved wife from radiation poisoning which his doctors never warned us about. And I heard later it was because they didn't consider her important enough to save unlike me and that some resented her resistance to things they wanted to do to me to improve me."

His skin took on a green hue as he continued. "His doctors and hospital failed to cure her and she died in agony of cancer." His shirt split as he turned ninety percent into the Hulk and shouted. "But I don't blame the dastard as he tried his best to save my Betty after she was so sick. So, don't ask me to vote." He leaped up and away and there were tears streaming down his face. Everyone ducked from the rain of pieces of ceiling tiles.

"Dr. Banner abstains." Captain America intoned. "And that leaves me as the chairman with the tie-breaking vote."

He looked around and then said. "As the Widow says I come from the 1930s, an age where women and the elderly were respected and men fought other men because those men had hurt a woman. Part of it was because women were and are not usually as physically strong and we felt that men had the responsibility to not misuse their strength against them. To my mystification after I was revived from my sleep in the ice I found that women themselves no longer desired such protection and some considered it an insult. It has been one of the hardest things I've had to adjust to."

"Like the rest of you I've been deeply disturbed by the reports in the news of the abuse and worse of women and children. It is something that I'll not tolerate and like Thor I'll defend women and their rights, especially to decent treatment." He inclined his head to Thor and then looked up. "Unlike the sports organizations we'll not be slow to act. After all we are the Avengers and if the people cannot trust us, then who can they trust?"

Into the silence that followed he declared solemnly. "I vote aye. A committee of six will be appointed with three women and three men Avengers to investigate these charges and our policies towards women." He banged down the gavel. "This meeting is concluded."

They didn't know it but Young Loki had just struck the third blow in his war against Stark with Angela's whole-hearted support which she demonstrated by hugging him. "Good one." She whispered.

"You haven't seen anything yet, sister." Female Loki said with pride. She owed her brother big time. Stark had not prepared well for this hearing, thinking he only had dumb, old Thor to deal with. He had never realized he had two brothers and their sister to contend with. The third battle had been won by the Asgardian brothers and their sister.

Young Loki was already planning his next strike at Stark but unknown to him Old Loki was preparing one that would soon be ripping through his guts, but would have unforeseen consequences.


	8. The Two Lokis Strike

The next morning young Loki in his male form found Angela strapping her sword on. "Going on the hunt, I see."

"Yes. I feel back in control and I have a lot of hurt to deal out to those three." She glared at him. "Don't even think of trying to stop me."

"Okay, I won't." He replied. "But didn't you say that revenge should be done in the company of companions?"

"Yes. What of it? Are you offering to come?"

"I would love to as I'm so good at bloodletting and swinging a sword in battle." He grinned. "That's sarcasm by the way. Don't get angry."

She chuckled. "Why be angry when you're being true to yourself and I trust you to protect yourself first just as you trust me to be true to myself." She sighed. "Still it would be good to have an experienced fighter to watch my back."

He smiled mysteriously and said as he pointed to an opening door between them. "Buehler, I have another job at which you can earn some coins."

An Angel of Heven stepped through the door and stood there clutching a long spear in one hand with her other hand on the hilt of her sword. She had almost red hair but it shaded to brown and her flying wings were a light golden brown. "How much?" She asked. "I overheard she wants a guard and the fee for that is ten gold a day with an extra ten if you want to ensure I'll not turn on her and sell out."

Loki chuckled. "Buehler is kind of an embarrassment to me. When I was leading the Angel fleet against old Asgard I jokingly offered to pay anyone on the fleet if they would agree to not kill Asgardian babies or children. To my surprise she took me up on it at the last minute and therefore she was the only survivor besides me. I stuck her in a dimensional pocket and took her with me and here she is ready and eager to help for a fee of course."

"And you, Buehler, being an Angel will you ignore your Queen's commands that no Angel have anything to do with me?" Angela asked with a frown.

Buehler looked uncomfortable. "I have no more home in Heven as the Queen exiled me for not being willing to kill Asgardian babies at her command and so I have no problem with you as we're both exiled and far from home."

"Twenty gold it is then." Angela turned as Loki sputtered. She grinned at him. "What? How many toss-away cards of plastic will you need to pay her? The price is fair."

Loki sighed. "I can see we're going to have to educate you as to your new monetary system, but that'll be for another time. Now some advice before you begin. Don't even think of attacking or smashing your way into Stark International. It's not that you wouldn't succeed but it's not called data retrieval here. It's known as breaking and entering and you'll get the Avengers involved and hurt your case with them."

"What do you suggest then?" She said with a frown.

"If you don't see your assailants then try the direct approach by asking questions and showing them their pictures. Someone may slip up when they realize you're on the hunt. Also try to involve your Guardian companions as they probably have better ways of squeezing data out of their files. In the meantime I'll try from here to tickle trick the data you need out while using you as bait to distract them. Good luck in your hunt."

"Luck will be a factor, it always is." She acknowledged. "But skill will be a bigger factor. Come on, Buehler, let us be on the hunt." The two lifted into the air and were gone.

Loki grinned. "Are you ready, Stark? It's time for the next rounds. The first one will be a distraction and with Angela's help we may gain the names we need. The next round will be fought at the Daily Bugle newspaper." He looked at a disk in his hand and made it vanish. "I do so love the internet as the past never stays hidden there."

Jolly Jonah Jamison the editor and owner of the Daily Bugle slammed the sheet of papers from Carson down on his ace social reporter's desk. "Carson, this is the biggest bunch of tripe I've ever read in my life." He leaned over right in Carson's face. "One of the biggest stories of the year, an Avenger being investigated for abusing women, and you can only come up with the old 'He said. She said.' crud. We can't lead with this story without the facts."

Betty Brandt who had once been a secretary and was now a reporter overheard this and found that she agreed with the head editor and owner. Stark International was a huge advertiser and their lawyers would be in front of Jonah's desk waiving the threat of painful lawsuits if he dared publish Carson's piece in the form it was in.

There was a ding from her laptop, indicating that she had mail. She opened her mailbox and saw she had a huge file there that was almost exceeding the box's capacity. She looked at the name of the sender and didn't recognize him. It could be a female but she thought that it had to be a male with a hashtag of 'Son of the Frost.'

She read the title. It was "the Stark Files." She then looked at the short introduction. It read. "You don't know me and I only know you by your good reputation from what you report. I had a lady friend hurt by Stark and I've gathered a lot of data and included depositions that you'll want to read and verify before you publish. Over the years his lawyers have shoveled a lot of horse droppings on top of our good friend Tony's misbehaviors with women but what can be buried can be unburied. Judges may seal files or dismiss cases but the truth will come out. Have fun."

She clicked on one of the files and began to examine it and as she did so her eyes grew wider. The first was a video clip of a distraught woman who was identified as a computer programmer at Stark Communications yelling at a reporter. "I never asked for it by how I dressed. I don't care what the damned Judge said." Another video followed of what she'd worn that night and it was nowhere close to being provocative. Betty began to get angry when the last video in the file showed Stark celebrating his acquittal.

In another file Betty recognized another woman who had been dismissed by Tony's lawyers as a gold digging prostitute and trailer trash and then she read her disposition backed up by witnesses. She had actually been a college graduate who by hard work had escaped from the grip of rural poverty. The court had ruled the testimony inadmissible and had ordered it sealed. Once again Tony celebrated.

By the time she was done with the eleven files she was trembling with rage.

"Jonah and Bill." She called out sharply to the two men.

Jonah broke off his tirade and glared at her. "What is it, Ms. Brandt?" Carson looked relieved to no longer be in the crosshairs of the editor's displeasure.

"Come over here and read this, Jonah. You wanted evidence on Stark and we now have the damned evidence coming out our ears."

He came over and leaned over her shoulder as she silently pointed her finger at the touch screen, moving from file to file at each grunt. After the last one she heard him suck his breath in hard. "Get over here, Carson." He commanded softly. As a puzzled Carson joined them he continued even more softly. "Ms. Brandt just struck the mother-load. Once we verify all this, then you two are going to win a Pulitzer and we're going to drop an exploding atomic bomb in Tony Stark's lap."

Young Loki had struck first but now it was Old Loki's turn. Odin was conferring with Heimdal as to what was happening in Heven at this moment when one of Thor's companions, the dandy and fop, Fandral approached him with a notebook computer in his hand. "What is it, Fandral?" Odin growled not even looking at him.

"I'm sorry, sire." The Asgard dandy said as he brushed a stray hair back into place where it belonged. "But it's this com device that we kept after the war with Surtur, I kept it to browse the internet (He'd ordered three cases of hair cream from Amazon and had won four cases of wrinkle remover at a steal on EBay) and now it has pictures on it that you're going to want to see."

As Odin turned Heimdal went white. There were disadvantages to being all-seeing in Asgardia and those pictures of Loki and Angela shocked Heimdal to the core. A minute later there was a scream of rage from Odin that echoed in all ten realms.

Old Loki hugged himself in glee. "Oh, I did some mischief there and some to me too. I have to go and clean up."

Thor was the first called before Odin's throne where Odin waved the incriminating computer in his face. "What do you know of this, Thor?"

Thor took a second to believe what he was seeing and then he gasped out. "Oh, no, brother, what've you and sister done?"

"The unthinkable!" Odin roared and smashed the computer with its infuriating pictures to pieces at Thor's feet. He rose to his feet and commanded. "Bring them to me to face my wrath. Now!"

"I will, my liege, but my brother deals in magic and I do not."

Odin nodded and handed him a ring with a black pearl. "Wear this and all but my magic will fail around you and his will fail him no matter what form he's in."

Thor took the ring and put it on but was still brave enough to venture. "My sire, I have something to tell you about my sister and what has happened to her on Midgard."

Odin snapped. "Bring her too and know that I don't want to hear anything until they're both on their knees before me. Now, go!" Thor went, knowing he would probably have to fight his sister again.


	9. Thor and Angela - Round Three

Angela felt like screaming after the sixth attempt to talk to someone at the different buildings in Stark International Plaza about the two men and the woman who'd assaulted her. The best answer she got when she showed the people at the security desks the pictures that Loki had brought up out of her memory and turned into photos was one harried guard saying. "They no longer work for us." Before some lawyer had shut him up. The rest were the lawyers saying 'no comment.' She was deeply regretting her promise not to commit violence and act only as bait.

Buehler suggested. "Let's put them to the Question." The Question was another word for roasting over a spit and other methods not for the squeamish.

Angela found she agreed. She wondered whether a lawyer would burn like a blob of fat or explode like methane from a pig's bladder while he was being roasted over an open fire. It would be fun finding out, but that would surely attract the Avengers and they didn't need that. Regretfully, she shook her head. "No, we'll save that as the entertainment for the victory dance."

Buehler shrugged. "You're paying so it's your call. Now Loki told us you were a member of some group called the Garters of the Galaxy and that maybe they could help for the right price."

Angela grinned at the name Buehler had called them. She'd have to remember it. "Not all of them, but I know one who'll help for a fee. That's why he and I get along. Since they should be back by now, I'll give Rocket Raccoon a call." She took a ship communicator device out of her pocket and punched some buttons.

A minute later Rocket's masked face was floating above the device. "Hi, Angela. I figured you'd be calling after I read about the Avengers taking Thor to task for destroying Stark Tower in your name. You're all right aren't you? You look okay."

"I'm fine now. I need some favors, Rocket. I need someone who can hack his way through Stark International's security systems."

"And you thought of old, nimble-fingered me." He grinned. "What's in it for me?"

"How do you feel about porno staring raccoons? I have disks and they were produced by Stark International."

"What?" He finally looked interested.

She smiled as she punched a couple of buttons. "Here's a short clip for your entertainment."

His face turned to look at something off the screen. At first he had a puzzled look, then he frowned, and finally he screamed. "That's disgusting. I don't take pictures of other races' sex lives. You have a deal. I'm going to find all these disgusting files so I can destroy them."

Buehler frowned. "Where did you come up with raccoon porn?"

Angela laughed. "They call them wildlife documentaries here. I copied them off the TV."

Rocket came back on. "Send me those humans' pictures and I'll hack Stark's files. It'll be simple as I invaded and broke his lousy security ten minutes after he came aboard our ship." She punched the buttons and he nodded as something appeared in front of him. "Give me a while and I'll call you back." His image winked out.

"What'll we do while we wait?" Buehler asked. "I could start gathering wood for the Question."

Angela was about to reply when Rocket's face reappeared. "You've got a problem, Angela. Somebody here likes people porn as your pictures and those of some woman are plastered all over the internet while kissing. And I just got a bulletin that Thor has been sent to arrest you and Loki to make you appear before Odin. Something about dishonor."

"The king of nothing is having a fit about nothing." She growled. "Damn them and their addiction to nothing. Come on, Buehler. We'd better go and face the lightning coward and this time we'll use Loki as the bait."

"That's going to raise the fee." Buehler replied. "We hadn't covered suicide missions in our contract."

"I don't intend to commit suicide and I'll be more prepared for his cowardly weapon this time." Angela touched the handle of the sword Ra as she proclaimed this in a voice so deadly and calm that it gave Buehler the shivers.

Female Loki was sorting through data she'd mined from Stark International files. "Aha." She exclaimed. "I knew they'd run to check on their cached files when Angela came calling. You just showed me what I needed, boys and girls, and just where it is." She touched the screen and started the data dump.

It was then that a circle of flashing light sprang up on the screen and a voice started chanting. "Category 2 alert. Category 2 alert."

Loki frowned and she punched the circle with her finger. She'd set the computer to scan the internet for stories about herself. Most of it was junk and filtered out. Category 2 meant it was an imminent problem. Another warning popped up. "Going viral on YouTube." That made it even worse. She touched that button and Old Loki's masterpiece unfolded before her eyes.

"This stinks of Mephisto and his damn spell. It's the only thing that makes sense since I screen everything and anyone before it can get in here. I have to admire you, Mephisto. I wonder how you crafted it so I couldn't detect what it was doing. You'd have to have information from someone who knows me better than I know myself."

She cursed. "Of course, there's only one being who has that ability because we share all of them, Old Loki."

She was interrupted by a new flash. "Category 1. Category 1." That meant attack was imminent. She punched the screen as she rose to her feet and grabbed her invisibility cloak and Gramm and then bent to pull her grip-any-surface boots on.

In the meantime the screen split and one side flashed a headline from the Daily Bugle webpage.

"ODIN ORDERS THOR TO ARREST HIS BROTHER AND SISTER."

"Oh, crud." She exclaimed as she ran for the door. She wanted to reach the elevator and run down the sides of the shaft. This was thwarted as Thor landed in the hall bringing down the ceiling and the roof with one swing from his hammer.

'Why, brother dear, what a pleasant surprise. You could've knocked you know." Loki protested as she retreated from him back into the room.

Thor followed with Mjolnir's handle gripped tightly in both fists. "This is not a social call, brother. Our father wants to see you and Angela immediately."

"Let me hazard a guess. He saw that fake scene on the internet." She gestured towards the computer screen.

Thor frowned. "You claim it's a fake?"

Loki nodded. "None of that happened as shown. Angela and I have been framed."

"Just like Tony Stark claimed he was and I did not believe him nor do I trust what you say now. I'll let our father sort it all out."

"It must be nice to put your thinking cap away whenever you want and let the wind whistle between your ears. Brother, you follow orders without questioning them too often. It gets you in trouble."

"And you never follow them and are always in trouble." Thor growled. "Come. Odin awaits."

"Hold." Loki said. "The ring is new. Is there a reason?"

"Our father gave it to me. Be warned as it negates all magic but his. Now come."

"I think I'll pass, brother of mine." She closed the cloak and vanished.

"What?" Thor stared around. "How?"

Loki smiled and thought. "The invisibility cloak and boots are crafted from what passes for weird science amongst its makers and though they call it magic it has nothing to do with magic. Gramm is unfortunately magic but I don't think I need to use it here anyway." She turned and ran for the penthouse grounds.

Thor however was even faster and as Loki burst through the door a tremendous lightning bolt lit up the whole rooftop and every tile and piece of flooring was flung into the air along with her. Thor didn't have to see where his target was to direct his lightning. He just needed a general area.

Thor peered around and then saw a shapely leg poking out from within the invisibility cloak. He jerked the cloak off and then lifted Loki up in his arms. "I'm sorry, brother, but you gave me no choice."

"And I'm giving you none either, coward!" Angela shouted as her upward swinging boot kicked Thor in the jaw during her landing, separating him from Loki.

Thor scrambled to his feet and had to use his hammer to block Buehler's sword as she cut viciously at him as she landed. "What are you doing here, Angel of Heven?" He growled.

"Trying to kill you." Buehler swung her sword again and this time cut a wing off his helmet.

"Back off, Buehler. He's mine this day." Angela snarled as she shoved Buehler aside.

"What will you pay for the privilege?" Buehler snapped back. "You're no longer an Angel hunt leader."

"Five days' wages." Angela said with a savage grin.

"Done. He's all yours."

"Sister, surrender now as I have no wish to hurt you." Thor pleaded.

"That feeling is not shared!" She shouted as she swung her axe back over her shoulder. "You are beyond contempt, son of nothing as you dared to attack my friend, your own adopted brother, and for what? For money I could understand, but you do it for nothing and it's not even for your own contemptible nothing. You were ordered to do it for the nothing of Odin and are the most despicable person it has been my displeasure to ever have known." The air screamed as she swung the axe at him.

Thor blocked the blow of the axe with his hammer as above his head the storm raged. "Cease this madness, sister. The last time we fought you almost died from my lightning bolt and here the storm rages fresh and strong."

"The only madness here is your own." She retorted. "You were challenged to single combat with me on Heven and used a dishonorable means to strike me down when you found your hammer could not touch me." She proved it by dodging his hurled hammer.

Thor grabbed her wrists in one hand as the axe descended and caught the returning hammer in his other hand. "We may be equally matched in strength, sister, but I am the master of the storm." He hurled her back to stumble across the ground. "Now, lightning strike for your master."

A blinding flash of light lit everything up as the bolt struck Angela and the thunder crash came almost deafeningly behind it. Buehler raised her shield up and stepped in front of female Loki who was just recovering from her own nasty experience with lightning. Buehler shrieked as electric arcs crawled across her armor and lit up her sword like Saint Elmo's fire. She slumped to the ground and barely caught herself with her hands as spit drooled from her mouth.

"Brother! Stop!" Loki shouted. "You're hurting noncombatants." She held Buehler up in her arms and pried her tongue away so she couldn't swallow it. "Brother, you're losing control just like in the Tenth Realm."

Buehler gasped out weakly. "He doesn't care whom he hurts as long as he wins."

Thor ignored the two and drew back his hammer. Suddenly it felt heavy and hard to lift but he knew he could end this now and the battle madness was on him again. "You're stunned by my bolt and can no longer avoid my hammer. So, let's end this, sister." He hurled the hammer and found the effort was almost too much for him.

The woman he'd expected to be on her knees and almost helpless was anything but. She was still standing thanks to the sword Ra and as the hammer flew at her she moved faster than it and reached up to catch the handle in her right hand.

Thor saw this just before it was going to happen and he shouted. "Don't try it, sister! No one can hold Mjolnir but myself. The force will tear your arm from your body."

Angela seized the handle and was spun in a circle by the momentum carried by the hammer so that she came to face him with the handle gripped in her right hand. Slowly the head of the hammer started to descend as with gritted teeth she struggled to raise it.

Thor stepped forward with his hand out as he commanded. "Mjolnir, to your master where you belong." The hammer rose slowly still in Angela's hand and moved towards him as she fought to hold it back.

"I'll never let you have it to kill again, you son of nothing!" She shouted. The hammer's movement slowed and then stopped and it quivered. Both brother and sister redoubled their efforts to gain control. Mjolnir moved towards Thor and then back towards Angela. Once again it paused and then it shook.

Loki was staring in shock at her brother and sister as they struggled for control of Mjolnir and then she frowned. Something was not right here. The hammer was acting like it wasn't sure whom it would serve as it lingered in Angela's grip. The hammer shouldn't do that. She'd seen it rip itself out of the Hulk's grip in order to return to Thor.

She knew if her brother got it back then they'd all face Odin's wrath and with the state of mind the All-Father was probably in it would be almost certain death at his hands. Angela didn't realize it but this was the moment that could decide everything and she, Loki, could make a difference by making mischief. She called out. "Sister, the hammer Mjolnir needs to know who is worthy to bear it. Tell it whom you would serve and protect using it."

Thor frowned on hearing his brother's words and called out just like his brother knew he would. "Mjolnir, to me. We serve Odin the All Father and protect the honor of Asgard."

Abruptly the image of a wet and bedraggled blond-haired scullery maid whom he dimly recognized appeared between them. Sorrowfully, she shook her head at him.

Thor's proclamation enraged Angela. "You'll never have it back, son of nothing!" She screamed. Sweat was streaming from her brow as she fought to control the hammer. "You serve the king of nothing and I'll die before I let you use it to harm the innocent again." She threw her head back and shouted pouring into it all the rage and pain from her near rape and abuse with the words coming from the very depths of her soul. "I claim you, Mjolnir, so that I can fulfill my oath to serve and protect battered and abused women and children everywhere!"

The scullery maid image nodded and smiled at Angela before vanishing.

The hammer quivered, lightning flashed as thunder crashed, and then sparks flowed over its surface turning into blue flames as the inscription on it glowed. Abruptly the words 'if he be worthy' were replaced by 'if she be worthy'. The hammer then came up in a rush as with a shout of triumph she raised it above her head while the storm roared above her; lightning played between the clouds and rushed down to the hammer and then back into the clouds. The storm was now totally hers to command.

She thrust her hand at Thor and he was suddenly struck by a lightning bolt as she watched with grim satisfaction. Then she hurled the hammer at the staggering Thor who reached up a hand to catch it and was spun around by the force and fell to his knees as the handle tore from his grip and the hammer flew back to Angela where she caught it easily.

Thunder rolled and crashed. Her garments changed and she started to look like a female Thor.

"No!" Angela shouted vehemently in protest. "I may have the hammer and the power but I will be true to myself and never be an Asgardian." She gritted her teeth and struggled with all her will against that of the spell. There was a bright flash which swallowed her up and a deep-tolling sound like a bell which had its tower rooted in the structure of the universe rang out.

As the sounds of the pealing bell died away she reappeared in silver armor replacing the gold armor, her cape was blue and the top of her head and the skin around her eyes were covered by a silver helm with sweptback horizontal gold wings from beneath which her flaming-red hair billowed. But the greatest changes were the huge, fully functional gold-feathered wings that now sprouted from her back.

She raised the hammer and shouted in triumph as lightning flashed and thunder crashed. "I am Angela, the Hunter, and all who do evil against women and children will be my prey!" A new age had dawned, that of the Hunter. It was an age not at all friendly to those who would seek to harm women and children as many sadists would come to find out to their sorrows.

Loki said in bemusement. "The little girl in that movie 'It's A Wonderful Life' always says 'Teacher says that whenever a bell rings an angel gets its wings.' Way to go, Angela, my dearest sister. You finally have yours."

"What's happening?" Buehler gasped out as Angela stared at her gaping brother Thor in contempt.

"I never thought I'd live to see this day." Loki replied. "Mjolnir has chosen a new and more worthy battle companion."

She came over and said in sorrow to the horrified Thor. "Oh brother, I warned you in the Tenth Realm you were running wild. You were arrogant to everyone you encountered and barged in like it was your own private fiefdom, you acted like you were the best gift to all the women, and in the end with full intent you tried to murder a helpless warrior on her knees before you to add to the body count you were amassing in the thousands. It's no wonder the hammer has chosen a new mistress. You were no longer worthy. From the moment when you raised the hammer to slay a helpless woman at your feet you began to lose control of it."

Thor fell to his knees and stared in horror at the triumphant Angela who raised the hammer over her head with rage in her eyes as she remembered that moment in Heven when she'd thought she was going to die on her knees helplessly at his hands.

"Sister, hold please." Loki said as she stepped up beside her. "The hammer is indeed yours to command but if you use it in rage to murder, then it will no longer be yours. Look at the inscription on the head."

She stared at the hammer and then lowered it. "What does 'worthy' mean?"

"A good question that anyone who finds themselves in possession of this magical device should always ask themselves. Remember what you felt in your heart when you seized the hammer and fought for possession of it and you'll know a good part of the truth."

She looked over at Buehler who was still shaking but ready to fight. "To protect the innocent such as women and children?"

"Yes, that's part of it. Everyone always thought worthy meant honorable but what does a hammer know of such an empty word as honor which is so culture dependent? The honor of the samurai is so different from that of the Asgardian warrior."

"The hammer's spell only goes by actions and intent. You fought to protect Buehler and me from harm and wanted to use it only for the good of those sorely put upon and thus you were more worthy. It also means despite your words of anger you have no intention of murdering our brother or the hammer would never have chosen you. It is not a weapon to murder with as my brother has learned to his sorrow."

As Angela stared at the hammer, Buehler cautioned. "We are exposed here to any who would do us harm. I suggest we depart quickly."

"Agreed." Angela said as she sheathed the hammer. "But to where?"

Loki smiled as she picked up her cloak. "I think the realm Otherworld with all its protective and screening magic would be a good vacation spot because we can hide better there."

"And what would we do there?" Buehler asked.

"Besides plot the next step in Stark's downfall out of the sight of everyone's eyes? Why visit an old and dear friend, a sometimes urban druid named Wilson. You see he created new gods to care for the common man, called the Manchester Gods, but in the end he paid with his heart's blood to save the universe from Surtur's fires by sacrificing everything he loved when I was Kid Loki (_Journey Into Mystery_.) I think it's time for the rebirth of the Manchester Gods."

She turned to Thor and held her hand out. "Come with us, brother. You have a long and hard journey ahead of you to reclaim what you lost and at the end you will most likely not be the man who started the journey. It'll be like when we were young again."

Thor sighed deeply. "I keep asking why I lost. At the moment I lost control I saw the face of the wet and terrified scullery maid at whom I had tossed a horn of mead when I was possessed by the darkness. (_Loki Agent of Asgard_ #1). Why did I see her when I lost control of Mjolnir?"

Loki sighed. "I know that you fought Fandral when he tried to stop you from hitting her and you beat him bloody. Let me ask you this. Did you apologize to Fandral later?" Thor nodded. "Did you ever apologize to that poor woman?" Thor went white and he slowly shook his head.

Loki nodded. "And that is why you saw her at the moment of decision. Seeking her forgiveness will be a big part of your journey to become worthy once more."

Thor sighed and took the once-more offered hand. "I will try, brother. My sister is right. Right now I am indeed nothing. I will strive to be worthy again."

"Brother, the ring." Loki cautioned. "If you wear it, then our father can follow us."

Thor took the ring off and hurled it away, declaring. "I start afresh and anew with no magic." He turned and looked back with regret towards Avengers Tower.

"A problem, brother?" Loki asked as she prepared the spell.

"I wonder what transpires back at Avengers headquarters. Do you know?"

Loki grinned. "I'll tell you when we get to Otherworld. It'll be the one bright spot in your day." They all vanished.

Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit stood before an angry Captain America who slammed the Daily Bugle down on the table. "This, this is despicable, Tony. I expected better of you."

"The evidence was illegally obtained and I was clearly exonerated by the courts." Iron Man protested.

"Tony." Captain America shook his head. "Just like that incidence of illegally taped bigotry by that basketball team owner, obtaining it illegally does not make it false. The truth is still the truth and we all have to live with it. As of now you are suspended from the Avenger's active duty roster until the final disciplinary hearing a month from now."

He sighed. "Please go home and take a long look at your life. I know you are a good man but your youthful indiscretions have caught up with you and maybe the only thing you can do now is to try and make amends."

Iron Man turned away with a curse. Well, he had money. He'd use it to fight this. Unfortunately he was about to lose some of it.

Three days later Stark International took a huge hit on the stock exchange as trading programs infiltrated by Loki's magic triggered a huge selloff of that stock in a market already made nervous by the headlines in the Daily Bugle. Tony lost fifty percent of his wealth in one day before trading was suspended and the next day when it resumed he lost twenty percent of what he had left.

It was only going to get worse. The war was ramping up. The mighty would have to be brought low before Tony could, like Thor, begin his journey back to the hero that still lived inside him.

Let me know if you want this to continue. We'll start with Wilson in Otherworld


End file.
